Planning for retirement doesn't have to be stressful with these top-rated retirement planning apps. Find out which app is right for you
Retirement planning is complex. It’s a long financial tactic that can leave some people feeling uneasy or unsure of their progress toward an important milestone. With modern technology, you no longer need regular meetings with a financial advisor to tell you where you are and how much income you’ll have in retirement. A good retirement app can do all that for you. Find an app that works for you and start maximizing your retirement planning.
Quick Look: Best Retirement Apps to Track Funds
- Best for Holistic Financial View: Empower
- Best for High-Income Earners: Playbook
- Best for Alternate Investment Strategies: Rocket Dollar
- Best for Disciplined Retirement Contributions: Acorns
- Best for IRA Contribution Matching: Robinhood
5 Best Retirement-Planning Apps
Learn the best apps to help you prepare for retirement and review your existing finances to get on a solid trajectory toward your financial goals.
1. Best for Holistic Financial Views: Empower
Monitor more than just your retirement accounts. Connect your various financial plans to get a better feel for your budgeting and earnings. Set savings goals to help you get where you want to go. Putting all accounts together can provide clearer financial insight so you aren’t managing your investments separately from your personal banking.
Simulate various scenarios to see how your retirement savings will stack up. See what might happen if you face a major expense or the economy slumps. Spend time evaluating your various investment portfolios and retirement accounts to see what hidden fees you might be paying or where you can improve your strategy.
Some areas have room for improvement in allowing you to monitor your credit, but overall, the tools are easy to use and helpful in retirement planning and day-to-day budgeting and money management.
Highlights:
- Free tools for connecting accounts and reviewing ongoing budgeting
- Tools to help plan for various retirement scenarios
- View whether you’re on track to retire
- Wealth management services available for a fee
2. Best for High-Income Earners: Playbook
Playbook offers financial planning tools that help you manage tax benefits and see where you can get the most from the finances you have. Learn where you have untapped tax-saving opportunities.
The app’s tools are not free, but at $19 a month, many users save enough in their taxes to make it worth it. The more wealth and income you have, the more value you’ll see from these tools, making them ideal for those in the high-earner category.
You’ll connect all your financial accounts to give Playbook access to your finances and where your expenses and income come from. Plug in additional details, such as annual income, expenses, taxes, retirement plan contributions and more to give it greater context to see the best results.
Help Playbook understand your goals by setting short- and long-term goals, such as setting up an emergency fund or putting aside money for a new car or house. Learn where to invest your funds to help limit your tax liability while growing your portfolios as much as possible.
Highlights
- Get a personalized financial blueprint for where to place your funds to maximize tax benefits
- Connect all bank accounts to learn more about your finances
- Setup passive income streams through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or other investments based on your risk tolerance
3. Best for Alternate Investment Strategies: Rocker Dollar
Watch your wealth grow using alternate investment strategies, such as crowdfunding, lending for startup businesses and real estate. You won’t find traditional investment options with the app but you can diversify your retirement savings.
Investors should be ready to pay the initial account setup fee of $360 or $600 for the upper-level account and an ongoing monthly fee of $15 to $30 depending on the account you select.
Experienced investors find this account helpful in varying their investments and opening the door to new opportunities. You can open a self-directed 401(k) account to maximize tax-deferred savings in high-yield investments.
Highlights
- Diverse investment options not available elsewhere
- Self-directed 401(k)
- Individual retirement account (IRA) account access
4. Best for Disciplined Retirement Contributions: Acorns
Acorns is built off the idea that you can build an investment portfolio using roundup savings. You connect your financial accounts to the app and then round up all purchases to the nearest dollar. Invest the balance between what you spent and the roundup amount to build your investments.
You can do that either with a traditional brokerage account or an IRA. It uses the name Acorns Later for its IRA. The largest setback to Acorns is the fees. You’ll spend no less than $3 per month for your account, which can greatly reduce the earnings you see on your account.
You also won’t have access to human financial advisors to learn more about your saving situation or take advantage of tax harvesting.
Highlights
- Save for retirement with incremental contributions
- Make retirement savings seem small and simple with day-to-day purchase roundups
- Automatically save funds to take the guesswork out of it
5. Best for IRA Contribution Matching: Robinhood
Get curated portfolios using Robinhood’s robo-advisor algorithms. Its retirement tool is an IRA or individual retirement account. Users have the freedom to roll over old 401(k) plans into the account to manage their retirement accounts themselves and eliminate the fees they are likely paying from old employer accounts to maximize retirement savings.
The retirement app makes it easy to contribute to your IRA from a brokerage account or other external bank account. The wild thing Robinhood offers is a matching program to provide a 1% match for the funds that you contribute. That means that if you max out your IRA, you can get an added $65 from Robinhood just for using its account.
Robinhood can help you set up a portfolio based on your age and retirement savings goals after you take a short survey. You can use that portfolio or make adjustments to it. Or use an entirely self-directed approach to invest in the stocks and EFTs that make the most sense to you.
The account and app are secure and safe to use. Opening the account is easy and could help you get started with an IRA if you’ve been hesitant or unsure of where to start.
Highlights
- Matching funds from Robinhood based on what you contribute
- Prebuilt recommended portfolios
- Securities Investor Protection Corp. protects your funds
What Is a Retirement App?
A retirement app is an application designed for mobile devices to help you save toward retirement. It might provide insights into your savings and tax harvesting tools and calculators that show progress toward retirement.
These apps can also help you understand your expenses to see how much money you’ll need in retirement. That way, you’ll have a more specific target for your savings. And those estimates will adapt with you as your spending habits change and you pay down debt.
The best apps bring together all financial information to help with everyday budgeting, credit monitoring and long-term saving. Many apps also have robo-advisor services to aid you in getting the most from your savings.
What to Look for in the Best Retirement App
Every retirement app has its own features and provides unique benefits. As you shop around for the best one based on your needs, consider these features that can help bolster your savings and provide peace of mind knowing you are on track to retire.
- Tax strategies: You should maximize your retirement savings based on what provides the greatest tax benefits. Look for an app that tells you the most strategic place to invest your extra funds to take advantage of tax harvesting.
- Retirement outlook tracking: Knowing where you are in reaching your retirement goals will help you feel at peace with your current saving rates or know where you must improve to get on track.
- Robo-advisor features: Few people are investment experts. That means that managing your retirement accounts and brokerage savings can be complex without the help of a financial advisor. Robo-advisors are the next best thing in providing retirement-saving insights.
- Budgeting: Some retirement apps mix in everyday budgeting to help you see how you’re doing now alongside whether you’re meeting your long-term goals. These apps are especially helpful thanks to their diverse use cases.
- Account options: Some users want more than a 401(k). If you’re looking to take advantage of a traditional IRA or Roth IRA, you want to know that the app you choose has those options to help you save strategically.
Maximize Retirement Savings
A retirement app can help you maximize your retirement savings by showing tax strategies and smart investments for your existing savings. Get started with one of these leading apps to ensure a strong financial future and the rest and relaxation retirement can provide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an app for retirement countdown?
The Retirement Countdown app will tell you how many years, months and days you have until retirement once you input your retirement date.
Who has the best retirement calculator?
The two best retirement calculators are the Rowe Price Retirement Income Calculator and MaxiFi Planner. Input your existing retirement plan amounts and contribution limits to see how you’re tracking toward retirement.
How to keep track of retirement accounts?
To keep track of your retirement accounts, you can add them to online financial aggregators like Empower or Credit Karma.
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About Rebekah Brately
Rebekah Brately is an investment writer passionate about helping people learn more about how to grow their wealth. She has more than 12 years of writing experience, focused on technology, travel, family and finance. Her work has been published in Benzinga, Hearst Bay Area, FreightWaves and Dallas Observer publications.